Gospel: Luke 21:20-28
Jesus said to his disciples: “When you see
Jerusalem surrounded by armies, know that its desolation is at hand. Then those
in Judea must flee to the mountains. Let those within the city escape from it, and
let those in the countryside not enter the city, for these days are the time of
punishment when all the Scriptures are fulfilled. Woe to pregnant women and
nursing mothers in those days, for a terrible calamity will come upon the earth
and a wrathful judgment upon this people. They will fall by the edge of the
sword and be taken as captives to all the Gentiles; and Jerusalem will be
trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled.
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon,
and the stars, and on earth nations will be in dismay, perplexed by the roaring of the sea and the
waves. People will die of fright in anticipation of what is coming upon the
world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the
Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these signs
begin to happen, stand erect and raise your heads because your redemption is at
hand.”
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Reflection:
There are
two sets of human sufferings that come to us. The first set of suffering is one
that we create for ourselves. For example a drunkard who has been told time and
again by his relatives to stop for it would result to his getting sick
eventually. But the drunkard would not listen to the wise counsel, eventually
he ended-up with cancer of the liver caused by his excessive addiction to liquor.
The
second set of sufferings that comes to us are those sufferings that we don’t
bring to ourselves. Example of this is sickness that comes with getting old or
any kind of suffering that we don’t create for ourselves.
In our
gospel for this Thursday Jesus speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and its
people. They could have easily avoided this kind of sufferings if they listened
to the messengers of God (the prophets) who called on them to leave behind their
sinful ways. But they did not, they continued to sin they killed the messengers
that God sent them including His Son Jesus.
As we close
the curtains of this liturgical year and as we enter Advent. We are called by
God to listen to His voice who calls upon us to humbly repent from our
sinfulness. And the best response that we could ever do is to humbly submit
ourselves to the Healing Sacrament of Confession.
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